Speaker 1: 0:10

Hello and welcome, Thierry Watson from the Healthy Wallet Project. Thank you so much for joining me this morning.

Speaker 2: 0:17

Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 1: 0:18

I'm so excited to be here, that's awesome We've talked about this for so long to have you here and now we finally made it. Yay, yay, thierry. Let's talk about what you do, how important it is and how did you actually get there?

Speaker 2: 0:34

So what I am very passionate about is helping women become financially confident. So that all came about from in 2016. We were a young family, two little kids. I'd been a stay-at-home mom for four years and so my husband was self-employed and we were first year into our mortgage. We had maxed out credit cards, we had a car loan, just, you know, mid twenties, had no clue what we're doing, had no plan, and then, all of a sudden, our really good income stopped. So we were in Perth at the time, my husband was working in the construction industry. Construction industry got hit.

Speaker 2: 1:18

So, yeah, all of a sudden we had no income and we had all these expenses and I I really wanted to curl into a ball and pretend like it wasn't happening, um, but realized the only way for us to get get back up basically was for me to take control. You've hit the bottom. We hit the bottom. There was only one way to go and that was up. So my husband and I both got full-time jobs. So going back to full-time after being a stay-at-home mom, leaving my kids at 6 am, not getting back home till 6 pm, was challenging in itself and I you know my health took a toll from the stress of it all. But little by little we found our feet again and I started getting confidence, talking to other moms, you know, sharing our story, because I felt like finances, talking about finances, taboo right yeah, people are you know they're not comfortable.

Speaker 2: 2:22

No, you want to make it look like you've got it all together. You know how to adult, basically. So, um, little by little, I started you having conversations about how we were struggling and I realized we were not the only family struggling, the only family dealing with you know ridiculous amount of debt. Because you know we just well, we were in Australia at the time and basically that's just what everyone else was doing. So we kind of kept up with Jones. Basically that's just what everyone else was doing. So we kind of kept up with Joneses, that's what we just kept doing. And anyway, so got realized that we weren't the only family struggling.

Speaker 2: 3:04

I, funny enough, found myself working in financial planning as a PA and I realized there's all this information out there that families aren't getting. So because there's this whole big thing that you have to be wealthy to get a financial planner or financial advisor to help you with financial planning, like because there's a whole big, there's quite a, it's quite an investment and families just weren't getting that support. So I was like, okay, how can I bring this information to families and support them to do the same thing that we did get back on their feet, feel back in control, live life with their children. Because you know, as working parents, we're constantly going from one thing to another. And then we keep saying, you know, at the beginning of the year of setting goals, being like, oh, we've gone, that big family holiday that we've been planning for, but you know, you get to August and it still hasn't happened. And then you're starting to freak out about Christmas. So that big family holiday that you just dream about just keeps getting put off. So, yeah, so I got qualified in Australia to become a financial advisor for mums, but there was a few things. We had the Royal Commission, which made it a little bit hard as a new advisor entering the industry. Then I had my youngest baby and then COVID hit. So I set up healthy.

Speaker 2: 4:37

The healthy wallet project started in 2019, um, and I was about to launch COVID hit and I was like I can't. I had this whole money mindset, where I was like my own money mindset problems, um, where I was like I can't charge people for this, like how everyone's struggling. I just got to give this advice, wait. But my coach was like Terry, for you to be able to help others, you need to be, you know, knowing that you're an asset for that. And so I did.

Speaker 2: 5:11

I started a program, um, with healthy wallet program Program, and it was about 13 weeks, I think my first round was and I had mums who were in business so it was my network over in Perth and I held their hand through a time where they just were like I don't know what I'm going to do. Because you know like I had a mum who had a fitness business because COVID, you know like that, completely shut down and so we just, you know, pulled everything back and just little by little, step by step, you know I just held her hand through it. And the same with another mom in Melbourne. She was like Terry, I just cannot save $1,000. By the end of it she'd say $10,000. Wow, you know, like it's just showing.

Speaker 2: 5:56

I just love showing women how, how capable they are. You know, because I mean, like for me as a mom, like I have so much self doubt going on and then you know wrapping like bad nights where you don't sleep, and so you have this whole big plan for the next day but that goes out the window because you're so tired. But you know, like just being able to help give the tools and knowledge and the support to help women feel confident that they can take control and they can do things. So um. So now I am a financial advisor that helps mums in the financial planning space because you know like there is such a big, big importance about helping mums, helping women growing their wealth.

Speaker 1: 6:51

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 6:52

And you know, through property and there's also through investing, yeah, so it's like it can be such this big, overwhelming thing, right? So all I do is I just break it down step by step, just go through the process with them, make it as easy as possible Because again, like there's, so it's amazing there's so much more talk about investing now than there was back in 2016. So I love the fact that there's so many different platforms that we can go on. Um, but again, that's overwhelming, because where do you start? So, yeah, so it's just about. I just love being able to help in the KiwiSaver space and in the creating what we call a big boring portfolio. So it's nothing exciting about it and I just, I just yeah, my favorite thing is just seeing the confidence of women grow.

Speaker 1: 7:49

Yeah, I love this for you because I believe I mean, I deal with a lot of women, right, and a lot of families. But what I've realized over the years is usually females are the driving force for a lot of decisions. They're the ones that want to live in a better house. They're the ones that want to drive a safer car for their kids. I mean, if it was up to men, no offense men, I think they're happy to live in a cave and just get on with their life. Right, would you agree?

Speaker 1: 8:12

Yeah, yeah, I think women are the ones that always drive their men to do better. Yeah, and they want to do better as well as a whole for the family, because we are, by nature, we're nutritious, we want to look after our families, we want to make sure we have access to the best health care, the best education, etc. For our children. So I think working with mums is such an amazing space because, again, on the flip side of it, even though women tend to be the most decision makers, often they're the ones that don't have the resources or the time to go through and get that education for themselves.

Speaker 2: 8:49

And it's so powerful as women, as mums, how we can pass this onto our children. Because you know, like, just by looking at my own mindset, because I really noticed, like I heard my children saying things that I was like you know that self-doubt was coming through for them and I was like, how do I help them? Because I want them to be stronger than I was. So I was like, well, I've got to work on myself and I've got to change the narrative that's going on in my head. So then the that are coming out are, um, a lot stronger than what you know, like it was before. So you know just little things that you know they say and I'll be like, okay, cool, so it's coming through. Like you know it is changing.

Speaker 2: 9:37

Um, I mean, yeah, I have moments where I'm like you know, where the kids ask for something, and like my first thought is we can't afford that, you know. But then it's like, okay, well, I like my first thought is we can't afford that, you know, but then it's like, okay, well, I can't say that because I don't want them to have this whole mindset, which is something that I've really had to work through, because that I'm, like you know, it was from generational.

Speaker 2: 9:58

Um, thoughts and patterns that come down as well, that come down as well, so yeah, so I've really noticed it in myself. So the power of us changing our thoughts and our patterns, you know that just passes on to our children.

Speaker 1: 10:16

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 10:16

And then so that they grow up stronger and seeing the opportunities. Yeah, exactly, rather than looking at scarcity.

Speaker 1: 10:29

Yeah, exactly, yeah, exactly. Rather than looking at the scarcity, yeah, exactly. I work a lot around the money mindset and I found that that's the most powerful step you can take that is free but requires a hell lot of work. So much, work, so much.

Speaker 1: 10:40

And this is where you know people either give up and they go back to their factory settings yeah as I call them, or this is where you know you change those settings in your mind, because I definitely believe mind has a lot to do with where we are in certain areas of our lives. And I mean I'm not perfect. You know I've grew up in poverty and I've come from you know, not much money and I had to come to New Zealand and make my name here and buy properties and stuff like that. So I had to go through all the hard steps without having any education and money whatsoever. My family's are academics, so money is not really money was not talked about. How was it for you growing up?

Speaker 2: 11:22

yeah, so money was not talked about. I mean it was kind of like because when I dig deeper and I look at it, so both my grandparents were in the war, um, so that was then passed down to you know, that scarcity mindset, which is exactly so valid because I mean it was my grandma was eating crumbs off the table still like to this day, you day.

Speaker 1: 11:45

You know she passed away last year but I remember like she came to visit me in New Zealand and there would be crumbs on the table and she's like I'm like, grandma, what are you doing? Like we've got bread, don't worry about it. And she's like, yeah, but that's what she was used to. You know, because of that scarcity mindset, like we found these bags and bags, and bags of plastic bags. You know because, like what if there would be no plastic bag tomorrow? Or you know, jars, the glass jars, after the jams and pickles and stuff like that, like there were gazillions of them and I'm like, do you really need that many? But what? Yeah, what I realized is that that scarcity mindset after the war they really suffered because there was not much to go around.

Speaker 2: 12:28

Yeah, and then, like my you know, my parents were one of many in their family. And then, you know, as kids, we were given, like I was given everything that I asked for. You know, like it was amazing and I'm so grateful for that. I also noticed, like, because you know from that, like I guess that's the other side of it too, where you kind of you're looked after really well.

Speaker 2: 13:00

And then, um, so I suppose I didn't take on that control of it for myself and yeah, it wasn't until things came crashing down in 2016, but I kind of because I just pretended everything was fine for a long time um, trying to do the whole adult life thing, yeah, but yeah, it's not until you have children and you go through such an event, because you know, when you're young, you kind of go, yeah, I'll bounce back event.

Speaker 2: 13:25

Because you know when you're young, you kind of go, yeah, I'll bounce back, it's fine. You know like it's fine to live like pay to pay and bake beans on toast if you're waiting for pay to come in, but when you've got children, you're like I need to change how I'm doing things because this is not working and yeah, and so it was really tough. But I have grown and I have learned so much about myself since then. And yeah, yeah, so it's an ongoing journey. Yeah, and that's what's amazing about it too is like because I had quite a closed mindset beforehand and it's through the hard, like I've cried a lot, like there's many times that I've just closed myself in a bedroom and just cried because you know, like it's hard, there's nothing easy about changing your story and yeah, so it's having that. It's allowed me to grow as a person and have that growth mindset rather than looking for the opportunities.

Speaker 1: 14:34

That's amazing, Terry. That's absolutely amazing. So let's talk a little bit about the Healthy Wallet project. What do you actually do with women? So let's pretend I'm your client. What's the first questions that you normally ask and where do you lead them from there?

Speaker 2: 14:48

So it's about talking about their vision. So you know, how does life look in five years. You know how does that feel. What emotions are you feeling?

Speaker 2: 15:02

Um, and really kind of getting them to sit in that, because a lot of the times it's a lot easier for us to look ahead and be like, okay, well, who is this person in five years? But what I do through the process. So it's then looking at we look at cashflow, we have a cash flow analysis because we want to see what's coming in, what's going out, what resources they've got available to them. And then it's about going okay, well, let's break down this vision and then go okay, we'll break it down, what do we need to do over the next 12 months to create this vision that you have?

Speaker 2: 15:42

And then we break that further down into six months, into three months, and then it's you know those 90-day plans where we're going, okay, the action points for the next 90 days, and so, yeah, and then what I, what I take them on, is a journey and what they discover is that vision that they're looking at in their five years. They can bring it to life a whole lot sooner than they think because you know like they've put themselves into this five years. This is how they feel and how they want to be. And then I get them to start incorporating that into their everyday, month, week, day, yeah, and they realize that they have this whole new because you know, like they're bringing this into their day, that they actually realize they're actually living their ideal day, you know.

Speaker 2: 16:41

Then get stronger and they grow so much more because it's not, you know, because they're actually becoming the person that they've seen themselves as being, in such like a small way, because otherwise it feels so overwhelming. But if it's just little by little, step by step, that's where the magic happens.

Speaker 1: 17:02

That's awesome. That's awesome. How cool is it to see people's eyes light up when they go oh, hold on a second, I can do it much sooner. Oh, is this what I needed to do to have this? Because I think a lot of people think it's way too hard, way too complicated, and then when you show them that it's actually not, yes, because you must see that a lot.

Speaker 2: 17:25

Yeah, People coming in saying, oh Zibaneesa, we really want to do this, but it feels like impossible.

Speaker 1: 17:31

No, yeah, sometimes people come and they're like, well, I don't know if it's possible to buy a house, you know, maybe in two or three years time, and then you show them that they can actually do it within six months. Yeah, and they go, what, I can do it within six months, like I'm like, yeah, you can be home, you know, in time by Christmas, like what. So, um, yeah, it's really cool. It's really cool to see that and I and I love that you're doing that. So just back to you for a moment. Um, you talked about the dream holidays, the big dream holidays that you guys wanted to take, you know, as a family. Have you managed to get any family holidays happened since then?

Speaker 2: 18:05

um, well, our biggest. So our biggest goal was moving back to New Zealand, um, and that in itself brought up a whole lot of things that I had shoved down. So, so being back in New Zealand is actually it was one of my biggest goals back in 2016. And it's been the most magical thing ever, but it's also opened up a whole lot more money blocks than I realized that I had. Um, then, yes, we have been away. We have a family batch um in Lake Taupo, so that is really cool, being able to get back into nature and with New Zealand, um. But I suppose I am also my own worst enemy sometimes and I, you know, we want to go exploring more. I've been really trying to find my feet and we haven't. We haven't been able, we haven't gone away just yet, but I need to be my own coach and be like Terry come on, let's set a plan.

Speaker 1: 19:12

I was about to say Terry, do you need to sit down with me now? Do I need to sit you down?

Speaker 2: 19:17

and do this with you. I know because it's like because, yeah, sometimes you just yeah, you need to. You really need to book in that time in your calendar and just be like you're going here no matter what.

Speaker 2: 19:31

So that's what I'm really trying to work on this year is really go. Okay. So I've blocked out school holidays. I'm like not working school holidays and we are going to go on adventures, um, and yeah. So that's definitely something that I am really working on this year, but I must say it's it's been pretty magical moving back to New Zealand and being and being on the coast cavity coast it's like you're on holiday we're already on holiday, right like.

Speaker 1: 19:59

That's how I feel. Sometimes. I'm like, oh know, it doesn't feel like work some days because I could be sitting there on the beach with my laptop with some beautiful views, and I think we're very, very fortunate in that sense, I know Exactly.

Speaker 2: 20:13

So yeah, so I'm going to set my own goals, and if you don't, I'm gonna sit you down.

Speaker 1: 20:22

Yeah, I know now that I've told you I'm gonna ignore you, because I see you every fortnight so I'll be like Terry come on, did you book the time?

Speaker 1: 20:27

yeah, sounds good, terry. Um, thank you so much for coming along and being so raw and open about your own journey, because, as you say, you know, money is one of those things that we don't like to talk about. We want to look like we've got it all together and living this perfect life and unfortunately and I've mentioned this so many times on this episode now that you know everyone is wanting to keep up with the Joneses and have this appearance of we've got it together. We're driving good cars and we live in good houses and you know we're eating salmon for for dinner, but actually at the expense of what? And if you're not building a bigger picture here, especially for the generations to come, like you've got three kids, you've got to think of them. It's. You can't no long, you know you can't be just selfish and just think of you. If I die, I die, whatever yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 21:17

I guess you want to pass on something to your kids as well. So what are your bigger goals? Just share one big goal with with us, oh um, for the next five years that you've got well, funny story, we have now got her additional with, so we have chickens.

Speaker 2: 21:37

We somehow managed to come home with a box of four ducks, and so one of our biggest goals when moving back to New Zealand is to buy our own lifestyle block and yeah, so that is one of our goals. Hey, I know a really good mortgage broker.

Speaker 1: 21:58

Oh, awesome, I have to get her data broker oh, that's awesome, terry, I love, I love your posts with chickens. Absolutely every time, like you light up on my feed, I'm like this is fun. This is such a cool because growing up, my um. Okay, I'll share something fun about my life now. So when I was little and um, it was around you know, soviet times, scarcity, etc.

Speaker 1: 22:22

My dad brought home a box of little chickens, um, because he went to this factory. He was a reporter, a journalist, and he went to this factory and I don't know why, but somehow he ended up with this box of little, little baby chicks. So he brought them home and he just pretty much gave it to my mom. He's like here, you can raise them. Now, mom's like what, don't know anything about chickens at all. I hope my mom's listening to this. She's gonna be like I can't believe. You told the story so. So my mom had to raise these baby chicks from like absolute, you know, tiny, tiny little things to big hands and, um, yeah, they were following us around and I remember as a kid collecting eggs, dropping half of it, um, because, as you do, you know as a three or four year old, whatever I was at that time but, um, yeah, I definitely have that weak spot for anything to do with animals, because I grew up a lot, um, surrounded by cats and dogs and chickens and hedgehogs and rabbits and ducks.

Speaker 1: 23:15

Um, we had all of that. So this is something like you that I want for my kids as well, because I feel like when we're connected to nature, it makes us feel more at peace.

Speaker 2: 23:27

It gives us more empathy teaches us how to care for someone else other than our own needs absolutely, which is why I'm also trying my hand at gardening, which is a challenge and very yeah, starting at the complete basics. So I have killed a few things so far, but but that's how you learn, right? That's how you learn, and that's you know. I'll just don't keep trying, we'll keep okay don't give up.

Speaker 1: 23:52

I believe in you. I believe in you, terry. Five seconds of fame. Where can people go and find you about the fantastic work that you do? Go?

Speaker 2: 24:01

so, um, I have a website, wwwhealthywalletprojectnz. You can learn a bit more about me, um, and I also have a facebook community, which you can find under the healthy wallet project amazing.

Speaker 1: 24:15

Thank you so so much for coming along. That was so much fun chatting with you. Thank you for having me I'll see you soon, cool, thank you.